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the annual beyrer family fishingtripsoftballgame
As many of you know, there is no fishing trip involved anymore but the name still stands. Really short on narrative tonight- it’s 3am and I have GOT to get to bed. Besides, you can pretty much figure it out without any captions. (and this is the day when my camera broke so you’ll see some blackness on the bottom of some of the pictures. it’s all fixed now just in case you were worried.)
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baseball trip 2011- day 4 Chicago III
We saved the biggest surprise for today. Well, not so much ‘saved’ as this is the day it worked out for. The Ziparo’s drove over from Michigan to surprise the boys. And they were very, very surprised!!!
Maureen and I made all of the plans a few weeks in advance of the trip and it was so hard not to tell them (Connor and Spencer knew). They came into the hotel restaurant during breakfast and the boys were beyond shocked. But it’s so nice with them texting all year that they just fall back into the same comfortable friendship within minutes. They still call Connor their best friend even though they hardly ever see eachother (about once a year) and have been living in separate states since they were 4 years old. How awesome is that? So happy to be back together!! And of course I was thrilled to see Maureen, Peter, Spencer and Katie! 
Poor Spencer is still Finster. At least to my boys. 
Maureen was the only reason why I went to yet another baseball game. Thursday was technically supposed to be our day off from baseball but a rainout earlier in the week had it rescheduled. Lucky me- bonus baseball. Ugh. But it was fun having Maureen there so I could not watch the game and catch up with her.
I know, it’s the first picture of Katie. She’s really shy and takes a while for her to get used to me again so I didn’t want to torture her with the camera. Just yet. 
After the game we went to dinner at Pizzeria Due (which is the brother of the owner of Pizzeria Uno). After waiting over an hour for a table, we finally got in and ate. It was good, but I guess we’re all more NY style pizza people. 
DS’s, iphones, droids, whatever it takes…
Oh yeah, they’re so gangsta. 
And this is how they stayed every minute of the next day we were together. Shoulder to shoulder, Jack & Patrick on the ends like bookends. Just like old times. 
And a little late night hotel pool swimming. They could’ve stayed up all night chatting if we had let them. But more adventures were to come the next day. Stay tuned…
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baseball trip 2011- day 2 Chicago I
We left early Tuesday morning for the 7+ hour drive to Chicago. It was pretty and the first farm was exciting. After that it was naps, DS’s, snacks and tons of “how much longers”. We stopped for a bathroom/lunch break somewhere in Wisconsin which just so happened to be across the street from a US Military Base. There were a ton of soldiers in the restaurant and I decided I would buy whoever was on line at Subway their lunch for the day. You know how I have a real soft spot for all US soldiers. I mean, they put their lives on the line for us every day. I figured lunch was the least I could do. It was awesome!!
And they were nice enough to stop for a picture with the boys. And Bob.
The guys pictured above even gave each of the boys a “challenge coin” from their unit. They explained that you get them for doing something good for your unit and gave them to me with a handshake. It was pretty cool and quite an honor. Timmy can’t wait to bring it in for show and tell in first grade. 
And we finally made it to Chicago. 
With no time to spare, we took the subway over to Wrigley for the game. 
Even though they spent most of their 12th birthday in the car, they still had a good day. 
Grandpa Jack and Grandma Inez even flew in for the game (and left the next morning). 
Looked up just in time to catch this. Love it!
Messing around with some sun flare. I was so bored. 
Then it was time for Tuesday’s surprise. Birthday wishes on the scoreboard at Wrigley!
And Bob. Tried to find him a elf sized birthday hat but didn’t have much luck. He celebrated the boys birthday anyway. 
Well, at least he liked the game. 
And I can’t go another day without props to my Pilates trainer Karen who suggested Bob come along on the baseball trip. I think a lot of people thank you, Karen!! -
big wave movie night
Lots more baseball adventures coming soon. We got back from the Cubs game really late and I’m too tired to upload and edit pictures.
Every year our country club puts on a really fun night where the kids can hang out in the pool on floats and then they show a movie on the really big screen outside. This year we brought along some friends to make it a little extra fun. And it was!
The Healy’s came along. 
As did the Heaney’s. 
Told ya I was gonna take it. And post it. 
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baseball trip 2011- day 1 minneapolis
So after taking “bob’s airline” to get here (Ok, it was actually Sun Country, but who the hell ever heard of that one either?!) and making it in one piece (and being really pissed off in the airport cause it took them over 30 min to check us in which then caused us to be late for the flight & the last ones on the plane and that was after they tried to make me check my carry on bag cause there wasn’t anymore room- but the nebulizers are in there along with all the meds and my camera- and I stood on the ramp to the plane emptying the bag but then they said they were sorry since it was medical equipment…so that wasn’t good! Won’t be flying them again.)
We landed in the Twin Cities in enough time to make it to the car rental counter, to the hotel and to a late lunch before heading to the game. I love the area we’re staying in- all old warehouses. Photographers dream. Hakka was upset as the restaurant he was dying to go to (Hells’ Kitchen) was closed for cleaning. Bummer.
Bob the Elf decided to come out of retirement and join us for the trip. I think everyone’s pretty happy to see him!
John’s really, really BAD hat.
Uh…Bob? You remember what happened last time you thought it was a good idea to drink. There was that whole drunk driving incident with imprisonment (via Lego mini figs) and community service. You might want to rethink the beer.
So instead, Bob made friends with the camera man. Good move, Bob!
Keeping score. 
See, told you it was a good move schmoozing the camera man. Thanks, Bob!
Yup, that’s me and my camera in the background on the big screen.
And even Bob made his big screen debut. Not bad for his first day out of retirement.
Patrick modeling the BAD hat. 
When you are all reading this on Tuesday, the boys will be celebrating their 12th birthday!! Happy Birthday boys! I love you so much and hope you are enjoying your baseball trip. More surprises to come this week for them. And pictures, of course!
